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This reminds me of a story I just read called “The Queer Zoo” (by Shannon Cain) which is a fictional narrative that takes place at a zoo where all of the animals are LGBT, and the zookeepers study the straight animals as if there is something wrong with them (there’s more to it than that - it’s not nearly so one-note). It’s a little bizarre, but I thought of your new series while I was reading it. You might enjoy it. It’s from Cain’s book “The Necessity of Certain Behaviors.” Just thought I’d share.

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-- Gwenn -- 2012 . 06 . 25 --

Thank you, James! I adore reading recommendations. Without them, there are just too many books in the world…

Interesting! I remember back in high school a teacher talking about his latest deer hunting trip when he came upon two male deer that were bedding down in the same area and were well fed even during the rut. I don’t remember him being derisive about the potentially homosexual deer. Or maybe that’s because I wasn’t listening for the derision way back then.

I thought of your series the other day when I was reading an Alaskan blog called Wickersham’s Conscience http://wickershamsconscience.wordpress.com/
Where there was a piece on the Red Necked Phalarope. The female is the more colorful of the two birds, and she’s polygynous. The more drab male incubates and broods unassisted, after she lays the eggs, the female is away from the nest.

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-- Gwenn -- 2012 . 06 . 25 --

Fascinating! It seems to be a thing among birds, reptiles, fish, and insects—all animals who incubate eggs outside the female’s body—that the male is more involved in parenting.

Also, I wonder about listening for the derision and a child’s ability to ignore it if it is there. Sometimes I think it would be nice to go back to that mental place…relaxing!